College football roundup: Freeh outlines failures by Paterno, ot

July 12, 2012|Reuters

The Sports Xchange

College football roundup: Freeh outlines failures by Paterno, others

Penn State's leadership, including late head coach Joe Paterno, concealed facts, showed a total disregard for child sexual abuse victims and protected child molester Jerry Sandusky to shield the image of the university and its glorified football program, an independent investigation found.

"The reasonable conclusion we make is that four individuals (Paterno, president Graham Spanier, vice president Gary Schultz and athletic director Tim Curley) made an agreement to actively conceal this information," former FBI director Louis Freeh said Thursday in a press conference to summarize his findings during the eight-month search. "The motivation -- to avoid the consequences of bad publicity."

The notion of administration fearing 'bad publicity' was present throughout the investigation, Freeh said.

Freeh said the culture at Penn State and failure to implement the 1990 statute that requires the collecting and reporting of crimes such as Sandusky's led to numerous acts of sexual assault by Sandusky to continue and cited Penn State for 14 years of inaction by senior leaders to the "bottom of the pyramid of power," down to janitors in the football locker room.

The Freeh Group did not interview Paterno, whose health rapidly declined after he was fired in November before his death in January. But Freeh said Paterno was guilty of not acting in the best interest of children and instead protecting himself and Penn State.

Freeh outlined evidence of proposed action in 2001, which including reporting allegations to police. However, a conversation between Paterno and Curley led to the decision not to report the crimes. Paterno was also aware of the 1998 abuse case and, per Freeh's findings, he closely followed the investigation. His grand jury testimony was to the contrary.

--An attorney for Jerry Sandusky filed a formal notice of appeal on Thursday.

Karl Rominger appealed Sandusky's June 23 conviction on the basis that Judge John M. Cleland violated practice by forcing the defense to reveal its case strategy by forcing them to share discovery materials. Rominger challenged the order was erroneous because the judge lacked authority to apply the order and failed to impose the same restrictions on the Pennsylvania attorney general.

Sandusky, 68, was convicted of 45 counts of criminal sexual abuse of 10 young boys over 15 years and is awaiting sentencing. He could face a maximum prison sentence of 442 years.

--The child development center on the Nike Campus in Beaverton, Oregon, will no longer be named for late Penn State coach Joe Paterno.

Business reporter Darren Rovell first reported the removal of Paterno's name from the facility. Paterno and Nike CEO Phil Knight were friends and business associates.

In a statement, Knight said he was saddened to learn of the findings revealed Thursday in the independent investigation of Penn State University's handling of the Jerry Sandusky situation from 1998-2011.

--NCAA president Mark Emmert is demanding a response to key questions from Penn State's administration that could expose the athletic programs to severe sanctions, according a statement released Thursday.

Penn State president Rodney Erickson said at a press conference Thursday afternoon that he and the 32-member Board of Trustees at the university would soon be in position to respond to Emmert and the NCAA. Erickson said he received a letter from Emmert -- which the NCAA confirmed went to Erickson on Nov. 17, 2011 -- with specific questions the university must answer now that the results of its third-party investigation are known.

The primary matter for the NCAA is application of its own definition of a "lack of institutional control." If the NCAA can apply it to the alleged cover-up at Penn State, it could harshly penalize the football program and also hand down broad punishment across Penn State athletics.

---An attorney for Jerry Sandusky filed a formal notice of appeal on Thursday.

Karl Rominger appealed Sandusky's June 23 conviction on the basis that Judge John M. Cleland violated practice by forcing the defense to reveal its case strategy by forcing them to share discovery materials. Rominger challenged the order was erroneous because the judge lacked authority to apply the order and failed to impose the same restrictions on the Pennsylvania attorney general.

Sandusky, 68, was convicted of 45 counts of criminal sexual abuse of 10 young boys over 15 years and is awaiting sentencing. He could face a maximum prison sentence of 442 years.

--- Attorneys for Kristen Saban, the daughter of Alabama football coach Nick Saban, have filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed against her by one of her former sorority sisters at the University of Alabama, USA Today reported.